Sunday, December 14, 2008

my day today

Morning... i have decided that today will be my day... i have been busy all week getting this place mucked out before Christmas...(actually my Mom is coming for Christmas)...and she has always said that i am a sloppy house keeper... actually it is not a priority in my life... how can you keep a house clean when 4 dogs come in every day, the parrot throws seeds all over the house, and the hubby spills coffee everywhere and walks thru the house with boots on...it is clean just junkie... i took some pictures of the tree in daylight hours... and there is junk everywhere in the pictures... so you won't see that one...

this is my new pre lite self shaping tree by Noma... from Canadian Tire... nice looking tree... Larry has been making Christmas decorations, and i like a little dove that he made... so he made me a 100 of the little darlings, and i hung them on the tree.. it was a little bare so i found some little red bows that i bought at Walmart(know as 'the store' in our house, as our friend works there and that is what she calls it) after Christmas last year for 25 cents for 12 bows..

here is a closer look at the doves.. i tied red or green ribbons on them to hang them from the tree... Larry is pleased that it is all that is on the tree.. it is very plain, but i am very pleased with the look of it..He had made lots of other decorations, and friends and family took some for their tree, but he had tons left over so our friend Clara took a box full to her office, and sold some for him, she made him $160 , he has always thought that they weren't good enough to sell, but i think he was pleased with the cash...there is a craft sale beginning of December here, and Clara figures that we should set up a table and sell them, she does decorative painting and is very good at it, so she figures we should share a table...of course he would never go to something like that, so of course that leaves it to the dear wife...I was thinking of getting a small tree to show them off...but we have a whole year to think about it...

This is one of my favorite decorations that he does..he uses a scroll saw, and uses popular wood that is very white...he cut it up himself when we owned the sawmill, this pattern is of a stain glass window that he found in a pattern book... it is so fine, it is about 4 inches high and 2 inches wide..and about 1/8 inch thick... and took him about 6 hours to cut out... he just did a sleigh and two horses that is really nice too... i want one of them for a address sign..I am so glad he has a hobby, otherwise he would be driving me nuts...

I have been having a wee problem with the flyer on my new Joy(bought at Olds last June), one side of the flyer, would pull really hard, and then not pull at all, but the other side would spin really nice... i have tried to figure out what was wrong, but to no avail... i have been spinning on Ashfords for 25 years, so i do know the brand and can usually figure out what is wrong, but couldn't do it this time, so i finally decide to complain to my dear friend Marg S,(who sold me the wheel), and the blink of an eye, she has me a new flyer... so i think i will try it out today..i only use the Joy for going to guilds and workshop and retreats..as i found the Traveller was getting abused, and Larry had to overhaul it at least once a year...so now if i can get this lovely little Joy working, i will be very pleased... the guild has a project for February, and i use the Joy to spin up the fibre... we are all going to make fingerless gloves, mitts or what ever ya call them...we are all using the same fibre from Aurelia wools ( aren't we lucky that she is our local supplier), different colours of course, but all the same type... corriedale i think it is...i got a lovely blue spruce, and have found the pattern, now just have to get it spun up... only a 100 grams so won't take long... I just finished spinning up some lovely merino and silk my dear friend Isabel gave me... her friend passed away and left Isabel all kinds of fibre, and Isabel is always giving me something interesting to spin..there was 6.5 oz in the bag, and i got 1000 yards from it, so ya know that i spun it very fine..now just need to figure out what i need to knit it out of... I have added another two shawls to my project list this year... one from my dear friend who lives out in the bush near Wells, she has 40 acres on Bowran Lake, her and her dog, 2 cats, live in a cabin, with no power or running water...she has always been a hermit, she did have a hubby and 3 kids, but now she lives on her own...so i though a nice big warm alpaca shawl will keep her warm by the fire..nothing fancy, just practical...

Took Jesse and Dixie to agility yesterday, we almost froze... but Dixie is an outside dog, and she was fine, but poor jesse had to have her coat on... it was -12...and is a bit colder to day -14..but is suppose to get colder this week... Larry is going down to get Mom on Friday or Saturday, depending on the weather of course... she will stay till Boxing Day and go home with Matt..we will have a house full this year, but we will manage... Had the gang over for cards last nite... we have been playing Contract rummy, but we need to get back to Canasta, as we were forgetting how to play...i made up Chicken, the last of our homegrown chickens, a recipe from Martha... it is called 'Potatoes that taste better than the chicken", it is very easy and very tasty... you stuff the chickens with fresh thyme and rosemary and a whole head of garlic, and top with butter and olive oil..and put the spuds in the bottom of the pan... and all the butter/oil / juice from the chickens cook the spuds... i did 12 spuds for 6 of us, and there was no potatoes left...

Well i had better go do something for me... get my Joy out and try the new flyer... oops... have to put the hooks on the flyer... so that means a trip out to the shop for my lovey to put them in for me... my hands aren't strong enough and he would have a fit if they went in crooked.... have to remind myself that it is my day... no laundry or cleaning... talk to ya soon......... sheila